Perfect Books For Bragging Purposes

“Who knows himself a braggart, let him fear this, for it will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass.”
― William Shakespeare, The Complete Works

I think everyone brags about something. And I think people oftenl like to boast about books they’ve read or be seen as readers. Because reading is always seen as a good thing to do. Below are some great books for bragging purposes and how people tend to brag about them:

The Prince by Niccolo MacchiavelliHow do people brag about reading The Prince: They’ll throw couple of Macchiavelli quotes at you. The Prince is a book on how to achieve power and how to keep it so they’ll say how much they learned from reading it and how it changed how they see their professional/private life. I think it tells something about people if they’re quoting Prince to you.

And Then There Were None by Agatha ChristieHow do people brag about reading And Then There Were None:“After (xx) years, I still remember the killer’s name.” I think this is a great novel but SERIOUSLY, name of the killer, it’s only mentioned once in the book and it’s not the most essential detail to remember. Also people will say it’s greatest mystery novel of all time (maybe true).

War and Peace by Lev Tolstoy & Ulysseus by James JoyceHow do people brag about reading War & Peace and Ulysseus: This one is tricky. People just say they’ve read these two novels. What they’re not saying and what they are really thinkig is that they should receive a medal for it because don’t you know how many pages they have.

Anything ShakespeareHow do people brag about reading Shakespeare: They’ll ask you about your favorite play and then tell you about their favorite play, probably also using names of the characters. They’ll probably throw some quotes at you as well. They’ll talk about differences between original work and different adaptations.

“I don’t like to brag or frighten, but I’ve got a black belt. And a brown one, which I sometimes wear with black slacks.”
― Jarod Kintz, $3.33

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor DostoyevskyHow do people brag about reading Crime and Punishment: Something along the lines: psychological masterpiece and that mental anguish and moral dilemmas presented in this book are astonishing. That Raskolnikov is highly fascinating character.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George OrwellHow do people brag about reading 1984: If someone mentions “big brother”, they’ll explain where did that term originate from. Also braggers will use it as example in every discussion concerning dystopians, totalitarism or dictatorshops.

What do you think are books people brag about reading? What are books that you like to brag about having read?

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15 thoughts on “Perfect Books For Bragging Purposes”

I never would have considered “And Then There Were None” a bragging book since I sort of assume that most people have read it. If someone were to brag about Crime and Punishment it wouldn’t really work with me because I didn’t like the book. I couldn’t even finish it because I was so bored. I vaguely remember thinking the protagonist was stupid because of his choice. What choice? I don’t remember.
I don’t have books I like to brag about since I’m not very good at discussing them *sigh*
I’ve heard that Charles Dickens books are something people often brag about, but that hardly any truly understand them. Is that true? I wouldn’t know.

I never liked Crime and Punishment either. Maybe too much of too dark psychology haha. I also don’t see why it’s the book people usually read and not other books by Dostoyevsky.
I haven’t heard that about his books, I don’t understand how much should you understand about fiction though. Point is to read right, not to analyse every sentence in the book.

That’s true, though it’s odd how people rather talk about ‘Crime and Punishment’ but not ‘Idiot’. It seems to be very selective. Haha, oh I completely forgot about Divine Comedy! That’s a perfect book for this list!

Ha ha, great post! It’s so true; people get so full of themselves just for reading “classics” and such. Like, it makes you a better person or something? I can’t decide whether it’s more annoying or just plain funny. Seriously, what you enjoy reading *does* say something about you, but it’s not like you’re a better person for having read “serious” literature. Read what you want, right? But it’s true that people do, just as you say, brag over having read these books, whether they realize it or not. :)

Truer words have never been spoken! ;) Exactly, I absolutely agree with you! I read to get high, and I read books that give me that feeling. Usually they’re not serious. I do adore classics, I mean will go into a total freak mode if someone says they’re fans of Les Misérables… I just think that people could find right time and place to talk of “serious literature” and not compare everything else with classics, but compare classics to everything else. Help people understand their input on literature, not the other way around :)

You know what’s worse than bragging? I HAD to read half of these books for school… You shouldn’t make kids read books like War and Peace and 1984. I’m not saying they’re not good… but I still can’t get myself to re-read them ans see if I’ll actually like them.

Oh, that’s awful! I don’t understand why any sane teacher would force kids to read War and Peace o.O I mean even readers have problems reading it so I can’t imagine what it’s like for pupils. 1984…is at least quite short. Yes definitely give them another try :)

I think there’s that tiny (or maybe not so tiny) instinct in all of us that makes us want to brag about our achievements, be it the books we have read or something else. However, I think part of the enjoyment of reading books comes from sharing them with others, either by lending (that’s a risk I’ll admit if you want them back) or by reviewing them.